To become one of the monsters that little girls feared.
The terrible throbbing in her head stabbed at her, and Maya winced. Damn, what was happening? Why was-
Come.
Her fingers reached out, grasped the wrought-iron railing and clenched. No, not yet. She wasn't ready.
Come.
The whisper in her mind-not a whisper any longer. A hard demand. A call that cut straight to her soul.
Come.
She stared into the night, knowing without any doubt that the Born Master had risen.
And he was calling his family home.
Come.
The words she'd spoken to Cammie played through her mind, battling that insistent call.
Those vamps-they'll never hurt you again. You'll never even so much as see them for the rest of your life.
P-promise? I promise.
The wrought iron began to bend beneath her fingers.
Come.
A promise had been given.
Cammie didn't need to live in fear.
Maya tilted her head back, gazed up at the bloodred moon. A killing moon. Fitting for Nassor.
Maybe fate had planned this night for him. And for her.
"I'm coming, you bastard. I just hope you're ready for me." Because she'd bring hell to his door.
Adam held Cammie while she cried, cradling her against his heart and silently vowing that she'd never know fear again.
He'd protect her and make damn certain the vampires who'd taken her didn't see another sunset.
He lifted her into his arms and carried her back to the bed. Her cries were muffled now, but her hold was still as fierce and desperate as before.
He lowered her carefully onto the mattress, then arranged the pillows beneath her head.
She sniffled and caught his hand. "I love you, Uncle Adam."
"I know, baby." He pressed a kiss to her brow. It was a nighttime ritual they'd practiced the last five years. "I love you."
"Always?"
"Always."
She smiled at his usual response and some of the fear finally faded from her gaze. He stayed with her, sitting by the bed until her lashes lowered and her breathing eased into the natural pattern of sleep.
Cammie had been the bright spot in his life from the first moment he'd seen her.
He'd never understood how his brother could give her up. So much joy-so much life-in such a little body.
He pushed back a strand of her hair. Hoped that her dreams would be good and that the nightmares wouldn't slip inside.
When he was certain she was settled for the night, he eased slowly from her room.
He stopped to speak to the guards at her door. Guards who'd flown in that afternoon from Maine to protect Cammie. "You stay with her," he ordered, "every second, until I return."
The men nodded.
Adam exhaled. Things weren't finished with the vampires, not yet.
But they damn well would be-very soon.
He followed Maya's scent down the hallway, stopped at the glass balcony doors, and stared out at her.
Maya's back was to him. Her head tilted back as she gazed up at the dark sky. In the distance, he could just make out the glittering lights of the Vegas Strip, shining like a beacon across the desert.
"Do you always mark what's yours?" Lucas's voice rasped from right behind him.
He'd known he was there, of course. He'd caught the wolf's smell the minute Lucas climbed the stairs.
His gaze drifted down Maya's back. Her jeans hung low on her slender hips, and the T-shirt she wore had ridden up, exposing the pale flesh of her lower back and the black etchings of her tattoo.
Not his mark, but it could have been.
Might as well have been.
The light on the balcony was dim, but with his enhanced vision, he saw the dragon tattoo easily, and he knew that Lucas could see it, too.
"You need to stay away from her," he told the wolf, not bothering to turn his head. He enjoyed his current view too much.
The wolf stepped beside him. Pressed a hand against the glass. "Think that'd be up the vampire, don't you?"
Adam tramped down on the anger that began to rage in him. He turned his head, just a fraction, and saw Lucas watching Maya. "No, it's up to me." His voice roughened as he growled the words.
The guy needed to learn his place-and that place was nowhere near Maya.
He hadn't marked her, but he sure as hell wished he had.
She was his.
He wasn't about to give her up to some furry ass**le-an ass**le who'd tried to kill her.
"She's strong." The wolf didn't sound particularly intimidated. Fool. Lucas continued, "She's a hell of a fighter-and she'd make a passionate mate."
Adam grabbed him, slapping his hand around the wolf's throat and hauling him away from the door and away from Maya. He forced him back against the wall, held Lucas there with the strength of one hand. "I think you're forgetting just who I am." Maybe it was time for a reminder.
"I haven't forgotten a damn thing!" Lucas's eyes began to shine with the power of the wolf. "A woman like her-she might just be worth any fight I have to-"
"She's not for you." His fingers tightened. The wolf's face reddened.
"Is…she…f-for…y-you?" He was huffing out the words.
"Only for me." He lifted Lucas and then slammed him back against the wall. He could still see Maya's body, sprawled on the ground in that filthy alley. If he hadn't gotten there, this jerk would have killed her. And now he wanted to screw her.
Not going to happen. Ever.
"I don't care if the woman strolls in front of you naked," which his lady vampire was prone to do, "you so much as touch her and I'll make you wish you'd never walked on this earth." His breath blew across the wolf's face and a cloud of smoke rose around them. Adam smiled, letting his sharp teeth and the smoky air carry his threat. "You understand?"
The wolf tried to nod.
"Good." Adam dropped him.
But Lucas didn't leave. He raised a hand to his throat. "Wh-what…makes you think…she'd w-
want to stay…with you?"
Adam glanced back at Maya's figure. At her tattoo. "'Cause the woman has a thing for dragons."
He turned away from Lucas. The urge to rip the wolf in two was strong, but the desire to go to Maya, to touch her, was so much stronger.
Adam shoved open the door and stepped into the night.
"You two finish up?" Maya asked, her back to him.
"Yeah." For now, but if the wolf tried to make a move on Maya, he'd find hell raining down on him.
She glanced over her shoulder, eyes reflecting the stars and moonlight. "You don't have to worry, you know. I don't usually decide to sleep with men after they try to kill me."